Week 13 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Who can help replace Jose Ramirez in your lineups now

Week 13 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Who can help replace Jose Ramirez in your lineups now Losing Ramirez is tough, but we've got answers By Chris Towers Jun 14, 2026 at 7:19 pm ET • 16 min read Add CBS Sports on Google Getty Images Thriving in Fantasy Baseball is as often about surviving when injuries and attrition inevitably hit, and Fantasy players got hit by another huge injury this weekend when Jose Ramirez broke a bone in his left hand Saturday. Ramirez suffered the injury, a fractured left hamate bone, during the fifth inning of Saturday's game while swinging, and he was placed on the 10-day IL Sunday with no official timetable for his return.But this is a fairly common injury, so we can get a sense of how long Ramirez is likely to miss – and his own history actually gives us a sense.

In 2019, Ramirez suffered a fractured hamate in his other hand and missed just over four weeks before returning. Of course, that was right around the end of the season, with the Guardians in the middle of a playoff push with a hard deadline, so there was more inherent pressure to get back – especially since he would have had an entire offseason to recover if something went wrong. The average return to play timetable for a hamate bone fracture among hitters is around seven weeks, so that would seem like a more likely timetable, with a couple of weeks of butter on either side.

That would put Ramirez out until around the All-Star break, at least, and potentially through the start of August. We can look at a few other high-profile examples of this injury this season to highlight that, too: Corbin Carroll: Missed 28 daysAndrew Vaughn: Missed 35 daysFrancisco Lindor: Missed 34 daysJackson Holliday: Missed 66 daysIt's worth noting that Lindor and Carroll are both counting to the day they returned to the spring lineup, so if their injuries had happened in the regular season, you could probably add at least a few days for a rehab assignment. And Holliday returned for his rehab assignment long before 66 days, but had multiple setbacks along the way – hey, that'll happen sometimes, too!

Every injury is different, and recovery doesn't always go smoothly, so while there are some outcomes where Ramirez is back even before the All-Star break, his absence could also stretch well into August. Either way, you're going to be short at third base for the foreseeable future, whether that's just four weeks or double that. Here's who you could look to target on the waiver-wire to replace Ramirez this week:Noelvi Marte, Reds (50%) – Marte didn't start his first game back from Triple-A, but he has started seven of nine since, and I don't think they can justify taking him out of the lineup now that he has homered in three straight games as of Sunday.

In total he has gone 8 for 26 with three homers, three steals, and just a 14% strikeout rate since returning from Triple-A – where he was hitting .369/.409/.

575 with eight homers and nine steals in 40 games. The Reds have seemingly soured on Marte given his inconsistent play, but he also showed how dynamic he can be when he is right last season, and this is a team that pretty desperately wants to make the playoffs, so I think he should play as long as he remains hot. After this weekend, I think he has to be viewed as the top target to replace Jose Ramirez (and he's worth adding in all leagues if you need an outfielder, too).

Curtis Mead, Nationals (54%) – Mead has been productive all season, but he wasn't really playing against righties much earlier, so there was little reason to take note. But after starting just six of the first 34 games against righties through May 19, he has started 12 of 16 since and has multiple plate appearances in three of the four he didn't start, so I think we can basically treat him like an everyday player. And he's been excellent, putting up a 46-homer pace in his past 21 games while hitting .

234/.342/.468 for the season.

You won't get much speed from Mead to replace Ramirez, but can still be a very useful Fantasy option. Royce Lewis, Twins (50%) – Lewis was dominant in his time after being demoted to Triple-A, and he has mostly kept it up since coming back to the majors, homering three times in his past four games and hitting 10 for 26 with only four strikeouts in 29 plate appearances since his return. He went down to the minors and worked on his batting stance and has been hitting the ball harder while making more contact since coming back.

It's a small sample size, but the Twins have also been moving Lewis around, and he has already gained 1B eligibility and needs three more appearances to add 2B, too. It's a nice little bonus for a guy who has definitely been a difference maker in the past and could be one again now. Andrew Vaughn, Brewers (36%)* – I think Vaughn is just a really good hitter now.

Unfortunately, he isn't quite an everyday player for the Brewers right now – and he isn't even third-base eligible, so you might be wondering why he's included here. Well, w